Law Making 1.1 Flashcards
What is Parliament
The ultimate body in the UK that creates law by passing Acts of Parliament, which are often referred to as statutes or legislation. It is made up of three parts
What are the three parts that make up Parliament
The monarch
The House of Lords
The house of commons
What is the House of Lords
- made up of 800 people referred to as peers
- In the past it was a hereditary position held by noblemen, now only 92 hereditary peers
- Main role, to double check on new roles
What is the House of Commons
- Most important part within Parliament, made up of elected representatives of the people
- 650 MPs
- MPs are elected to represent a geographical area within the country
What is the Government
- Job, to run the country
- Formed by the Political party, consists of majority of the MPs
- Leader, Prime minister
- Makes proposals for new laws, called a Bill
- Both houses must agree on a Bill, for it to then receive royal ascent before being passed as an act of parliament
What is a Green Paper
- This is published before putting a Bill before Parliament
- It is a initial report to initiate public discussion, typically includes questions for interested individuals and organisations to respond to
What is a White Paper
- Published by Government after the Constitution
- A document setting out detailed plans for legislation, often incudes a draft version of the Bill they intend to put before parliament
What are the 5 Types of Bills
Private Bills - Intended to affect a specific area or organisation
Public Bills - Intended to affect the public as a whole
Personal Bills - Affect one or two people, begin in the Lords
Government Bills - Steered through Parliament b a minister from the appropriate government department
Private Members Bills - Sponsored by an individual MP or Peer
What are the 8 stages of creating and passing Law (preferably in order)
- Consultation Stage
- First Reading
- Second Reading
- Second Reading
- Committee Stage
- Report Stage
- Third Reading
- Bill goes to other house
- Royal Assent
What is the Consultation Stage
Government makes a draft of the Bill and asks senior officials to make comments
What is the First Reading
Government tells everyone about the Bill by reading out its title in the House of commons or House of Lords
What is the Second reading
Main debating stage where all MPs or Lords can discuss the Bill, ask questions and vote on it. It could be voted out at this stage
What is the Committee stage
A smaller group of MPs or many Lords look at the Bill in detail. They may make changes, called ‘amendments’, based on their discussions
What is the Report Stage
Amendments made during the Committee stage are reported to either House. MPs or Lords may vote on these amendments
What is the Third Reading
Overall consideration of the Bill in either House and final votes to decide whether it goes any further.
What happens when the Bill goes to the other House
The other house will follow similar stages. They can suggest amendments to the Bill and then send it back, that House may send it back again until an agreement can be reached. If no agreement can be reached, the House of Commons can vote to pass the law without agreement from the House of Lords.
What is Royal Ascent
The Monarch signs-off the Bill as a new law or ‘Act of Parliament’.
Two Examples of Laws introduced by the government and passed by Parliament
The Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 - Introduced mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offences, such as an automatic life sentence for a second serious sexual or violent offence
The Dangerous Dogs Act (1991) - Act was very rushed, passed in a few weeks due to combat a over reaction to a media led moral panic, as a result many flaws became apparent. such as that it blames the breed not the owners, most dog related attacks are not committed by the four banned breeds.
Which are the two processes in which judges can make laws
- Judicial Precedent
- Statutory Interpretation
What is Judicial Precedent
- Past decisions of judges create law for future judges to follow
- Based on the principle of standing by or following what judges have decided in previous cases
- This creates certainty, consistency and fairness in the legal system
- Helped create a singe set of laws common to the whole country, Common Law
Describe court hierarchy
Supreme court at the top, magistrates courts at the bottom.
A decision taken in a case by a higher court automatically creates a binding precedent for all lower courts, one that they have to follow in similar cases.
What are the two exceptions to Precedent, and what do they mean
- Distinguishing, when the judge finds the facts in the present case are different enough from the earlier one, allowing them to reach a different verdict
- Overruling, Where a court higher up the hierarchy states that a legal decision in an earlier case is wrong and overturns it.
Give an example of a Overruling
1991 case of R v R, a husband was convicted of attempted rape on his wife, he appealed on the grounds that a old precedent stated that a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife because the marriage contract gave a wife’s consent to sex. Appeal court overruled this on the grounds that time has changed and that couples are seen as equals in marriage
What is Statutory interpretation
Judges can make law by the way they interpret the statutes or Acts of Parliament.
Statute being written law means judges have to interpret it’s meaning apply them to the case
Three rules, Literal rule, Golden rule, Mischief rule
What is the Literal rule
States that judges should use the everyday, ordinary meaning of the words in a statute.
One issue with this is that a word can have multiple literal meanings
What is the Golden rule
Allows the court to modify the literal meaning of words to avoid the confusion brought by the literal rule
What is the Mischief rule
Allows the courts to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve, rather than what the words actually say
